All posts tagged Terminal 5

James Murphy, right, and LCD Soundsystem performing in Barcelona last year. The band is embarking on a final week of concerts in New York before calling it quits.

Some bands long past their prime refuse call it quits — witness the list of nostalgia acts crisscrossing the country each summer. Few have the foresight or fortitude of James Murphy, who is set to walk off the stage at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night and shut down a band at its creative peak.

Murphy, the frontman and force behind LCD Soundsystem, has set up a virtual cottage industry in New York City since releasing the 2002 single “Losing My Edge,” a song that meshed tropes from rock and dance music and inspired a wave of like-minded local bands. He now runs a studio in the West Village, works as a producer for other artists, releases records on a label he co-founded — all while fronting LCD Soundsystem, until next Sunday morning at least, through three albums and exhaustive world tours.

That legacy may still grow in the future, but Murphy has called time on the band as a live entity following the acclaim heaped on its 2010 album “This Is Happening.” He declined several requests for interviews and has kept a low profile since setting an end date for his band.

The end comes as other prominent groups from the same musical era are either struggling to adjust to the new decade or, like Murphy’s band, bowing out altogether. Recent albums by the Strokes and Interpol, dominant bands on New York’s early 2000s scene, received lukewarm receptions from critics, while the White Stripes declared they were splitting up just a few days before Murphy’s announcement.

Murphy is very much walking away from an act able to draw fans as well as critical accolades. The scramble to attend LCD Soundsystem’s final show at the Garden, which sold out in less than a day, caused consternation for the singer as scalpers snapped up a disheartening amount of tickets. Read More »